Selling Abortions Like Hotcakes

Apparently, the trendy way among conservatives is to relabel abortion. No longer is it a legal medical procedure (which it is) or a completely legal exercise of a woman’s right to control her body (which it is), or even a form of medical treatment to fix an unwanted problem (which it is). Instead, abortion is now just like any other commodity, according to the anti-choice lobby, and is now being “sold” to women.

It comes on the heels of that Susan G. Komen foundation controversy, in which a breast cancer foundation removed funding from Planned Parenthood, ostensibly because it was under Congressional investigation, although the political motives were obvious. Supporters of Planned Parenthood fought back and, in addition to massive fundraising, forced the Komen Foundation to change its policy and allow Planned Parenthood to apply for their grants. But the anti-choice lobby doesn’t like that. To them, Planned Parenthood is what the Federal Reserve is to Ron Paul fans: the root of all evil. It’s Satan incarnate, an institution that not only provides a service they think is murder, but uses its political heft to, as a recent hatchet job in the Wall Street Journal (did you expect anything else) said, hold foundations, governments, and even breast-cancer victims hostage. Real classy.

However, there is a point that is going unnoticed. Robert George and Carter Snead (who I’m sure wants to abort that name of his) refer to Planned Parenthood as “selling” abortions. It may not look like much, but they’re changing the debate. Whereas it should be considered a medical procedure, a treatment, it’s now being referred to as a commodity (leave it to the Wall Street Journal to clamor for the commodification of all healthcare). It’s no different than buying a wrench at the hardware store or a stack of flapjacks at a diner. Abortions are bought and sold, now. Leave it to the market fiends, Ron Paul fans, to comment on it. One poster on a Ron Paul Facebook group, Tim. L, says “I think we can change the dialogue concerning abortion. Instead of calling it “abortion rights,” we should call it “abortion vending rights.” Sorry Tim, but not all things should be bought and sold like hotcakes.

When we refuse to look at abortion as a medical procedure for women in need, often young women from low-income backgrounds, we become callous to the plight of those who requirit. Planned Parenthood isn’t selling abortions. They don’t have an abortion-plex, regardless of what actual elected officials think. Only three percent of Planned Parenthood’s services are toward abortions. If they’re trying to grab the “abortion market,” they aren’t do so well.

The anti-choice lobby really needs to move it along. They’ve used every trick in the book to stop a completely legal medical procedure. They’ve had their hands in the pants of women for far too long, and it’s high time they focus on something actually relevant, like actual murder in Syria or actual murder by police forces across the country or pumpernickel. Any of the above three are fine.

28 Responses

This blog post reflects a warped perception of history and natural law. It’s been the abortion lobby that has been re-naming terms for decades calling the termination of life a medical procedure, an unborn child a fetus and murder a “choice”.

Reality check: “Only three percent of Planned Parenthood’s services are toward abortions”. Gee, when you state the statistics this way it makes the 300,000 plus abortions performed each year by PP seem not so bad.

Fact – PP did more abortions in 2009 than it has done in any prior year and is providing fewer pregnant women with non-abortion services.

Fact – As the abortion rate nationally is falling, Planned Parenthood’s rates are increasing. With approximately 1.2 million abortions done annually in the United States via surgical abortions or the mifepristone abortion drug, Planned Parenthood has increased its share of the abortion industry to 27.6 percent of all abortions done annually. They have increased their number of abortions for 15 straight years from 9.3 percent of all abortions in the United States to committing 27.5 percent. It’s safe to say their market share has grown considerably.

When you are prepared to use statistics responsibly, and without obvious bias, perhaps then your blog post will be of greater public value.

Life begins at conception and no one has the power except God to take that life away. Since when does destroying life become labeled as a “medical procedure”. Every life is precious and should never be viewed as “an unwanted problem”.

Devin – your logic is faulty regarding medical procedures. Death by lethal injection, even if performed by a licensed physician, still results in one dead person. Also, why do you consider Twigs entry as “pushing”, for merely expressing a different view. Isn’t that what you’re doing on this blog? Aren’t you pushing your morals on us?

John, lethal injection ends the life of a living, thinking human who has sentience. There is a big difference between a fetus, part of a woman’s body, and a living and thinking human being.

As for Twigs, I would assume he or she favors abortion being outlawed, in which case his or her morals are certainly being pushed upon the rest of the population. If you don’t like something, don’t do it. It’s not hurting you or anyone else.

(Funny note: the “small government” conservatives have no problems sticking their hands into people’s private lives, or in this case, private parts)

7.John, lethal injection ends the life of a living, thinking human who has sentience. There is a big difference between a fetus, part of a woman’s body, and a living and thinking human being

Until you are a father you have no business having any sort of opinion on this matter. My wife and I have lost a child in utero at 12 weeks. That was our child, we loved it, nutrured it, it had a heartbeat. Unfotunately and tragically that little heart stopped on its own. Don’t you dare try to say that wasn’t a life. We mourned the loss no less. Maybe even more since we never got to hold our child. It took 4 years of trying and treatments.

My views on this matter are far from religious. It is a choice, yes. A barbaric, irresponsible, disgusting, WRONG choice. Why should this be an option for anyone who was stupid enough to get an unwanted pregnancy? How often REALLY does this procedure save the life of the mother? I’m sure that statistic is infinitesmal at BEST.

While I will agree that Planned Parenthood does do plenty of counciling, prevention, and even try to talk people out of abortions (that’s right, they don’t PROFIT off of it, nor try to increase the amount of abortions as some truly horribly ignorant idiots would have us believe). The fact remains that the majority of people who get the abotion do so as a form of birth control. That is wrong.
If the mother doesn’t want the child, regardless of the circumstances of pregnancy, there are thousands of couples from all different backgrounds who would do anything for a child of their own. Adoption should be a more acceptable option.

Until you are a particular woman, you have no business having any sort of opinion on what goes on in another woman’s uterus. Should you have some sort of business regarding your wife’s uterus? Sure, if that’s her decision, but the status of my uterus, or any other woman’s uterus, is none of your business.

Do you rally against non-hormonal IUDs as well, because those are fertilized eggs they’re destroying? Those are entities with a potential for human life as well.

A 12 week old fetus has no potential for viability outside the womb, and it’s life could easily end in any number of ways, and is still dependent on whether or not the mother is interested in carrying it to term. I have a feeling this will hurt your delicate sensibilities, but a 12 week old fetus is engaging in a parasitic relationship with a woman, especially with a woman who has zero interest in being pregnant or having a child. Your emotions on your wife’s miscarriage have nothing to do with a discussion on the bodily autonomy of women.

Carrying a baby to term has a non-negligible amount of risk to the mother, both to her life and to her bodily systems as well as to her state of mental well-being. It could affect her ability to work and be economically independent, among other issues. I think it is archaic to expect that a woman should be punished by a pregnancy because she had sex (or was raped) and it resulted in a pregnancy. Because punishment is all that forcing a woman to carry to term an unwanted pregnancy is.

On a less religious note: AnActualAdult has a very good point. I will not deny that rape is a terrible thing and that if pregency results, it would certainly be difficult for the victim to carry the pregnancy. The fact of the matter is that there are thousands of couples that cannot have children of thier own and literally are on waiting lists to adopt a child. Describing pregnancy as a “parasitic relationship with a woman” is a very harsh and terrible way to describe it, though pregnancy can be difficult for some women. But is it really worth destroying a life that would have been welcomed with open arms into another family just so you don’t have to deal with it? This “unwanted problem”? These 1.2 million abortions are the deaths of 1.2 million children that these couples will never have. Even if you may not want the child there is someone else that does. Abortion is selfish.

Twigs, is it not selfish to wish for a woman to carry the pregnancy to term?

Now, this isn’t directed at you, but I do find it odd that much of the conservative anti-choice movement plays the selfish card, when their entire ideology is founded on the belief that people should have the right to act in their own self-interest.

Now, back to you Twigs, it’s not as if there are no children up for adoption. There are hundreds of thousands of children waiting for a couple to take them in with open arms.

If I am a woman, and I am pregnant with an unwanted child and I have no desire to be pregnant, the fetus is absolutely a parasitic organism. It takes sustenance from my body, stresses my body, increases my risk of death or impairment, and at the same time gives me absolutely nothing. Just because parasite has a negative connotation, and you have warm fuzzies about fetuses, doesn’t mean that it is not a parasitic relationship as I’ve outlined above.

Individual women have no responsibility to childless parents, there is no reason why we should be forced to be empathetic to their situation and be forced carry unwanted pregnancies to term for their sake. My bodily autonomy has nothing to do with the desires of others.

There are more children in the foster care system, than there are people willing to adopt them. But remember Devin, the adopting parents don’t want children, they want infants. But even among infants, demand is high for certain types of infants, but not all. If myself, as a college educated Caucasian woman, has a baby and wished to adopt it out, I’m sure I’d have a line waiting for my child. But if I was a poor urban Hispanic woman, my biological child might live in foster care for their entire childhood. So to pretend like there’s a warm and loving home for every unwanted child, even unwanted infant, is farcical.

Yes, abortion is a medical procedure. So is lethal injection. So is a trans-orbital lobotomy. So is sterilization even if forced by a totalitarian government. The Nazis conducted numerous “procedures”.

If up to me, abortion would remain legal but with restrictions (as is the case in much of Europe).

Abortion is what it is: the killing of an unborn human being at the convenience of another. There may well be cases, although rare, where it’s the only least-bad option (e.g. actual danger to the mother in an objective sense, not some wishy-washy psycho-babble sense).

I have living children and i have experienced the loss of multiple children. Some of my losses where early 15 or fewer weeks and one was at 34 weeks. I am PRO CHOICE. If you do not agree with abortion don’t have one. It is not anyones business what a woman does with her own body and it is for no one to judge that decision. Keep your Religious beliefs (life begins at conception) out of my body. KCRob when contraception doesn’t work what the. Should the woman have to carry the child to term that she a) may not be financially equipt to handle. Should she then give this baby someone else to raise even though that will be more than she can bear. What if that baby doesn’t fit the wants of those who can afford to legally adopt (mostly rich caucasian people) Carrying a baby for 10 months does not come without emotional baggage when you give that baby away regardless of your ability to care for the child. b)what if it puts her life at risk. My body does not appear to be compatable with pregnancy. I have to be at the drs nearly every day while pregnant so they can monitor my blood pressure, check for blood clots, and other things of course I had to lose multiple pregnancies before they figured out what was wrong with me and that I could die. Should I risk death to maybe bring another child to term. It could cause my children to end up motherless (big possabilty of this). I could go on. How about this. Once all of those people who have such a problem with what I do with my body adopt all of the parentless children out of the system lets talk. Twigs how many are you adopting 5, 6, 7. And KCROb how about you? Do you want to get into the discussion about the diproportionate number of low income and minority – well really minority low income unmarried very young women end up needing abortion services. KCRob if it was your daughter who was raped would you make her carry her rapists child to term so she could then give it to someone else to raise. Think about that!

Nice try on the false equivalency. These are things that are done to fully sentient, feeling, human beings that live viably on their own in the outside environment. A fetus is an underdeveloped human with potential to be a fully sentient, feeling, human being. That organism, with potential, lives off of the body of its host, the mother. To put the potential of a fetus ahead of the wants or the health of a living, breathing, adult woman is atrocious.

To be completely honest, I am sickened by a large majority of these comments. Much of my beliefs that abortion is wrong is based on the fact that I am a Christian and this is what God teaches us. For that reason, I am a firm believer in the cliche phrase “Everything happens for a reason”. Why was that teenage girl raped and forced to carry the rapist’s baby and suffered the emotional trauma of also having to give the baby away? Perhaps that baby will grow up and be the one to cure cancer. Life begins at conception and everything works according to God’s plan. I understand that this probably not substantial information for some and that it will probably be ridiculed, but I will still stand by what I believe.

It’s fine that you believe in the Christian incarnation of God. I do not believe in that entity. You have no right to impose your religious beliefs on me or anyone else. If abortion doesn’t suit your sense of religion-derived morality, then by all means please don’t get one. But your religious beliefs are not, and should not be legislation.

First of all “Everything happens for a reason” may be the most disgusting thing you could say to someone who has been raped. Blaming her for the rape by saying she dressed or acted provocatively are the only things I can think of that would be worse. Potentially finding the cure for cancer (which has no correlation to being raped) does not make up for the emotional and physical trauma she would be dealing with for the rest of her life. Frankly I am offended and find your comment that you subscribe to the cliché saying offensive. I can think of nothing that would make me feel as though the loss of my child to Stillbirth (not my early pregnancy losses. Before anyone reads this and gets upset I realize how devastating miscarriage can be for some women. I feel for them because I know they feel the pain of their loss just as keenly as I feel the pain of my child’s stillbirth but for me the early pregnancy losses are not the same.) brought about some great event in my life. What the stillbirth did was terrify my child, put me in a very bad depression, and cause a rift in my marriage. I haven’t cured cancer and darn it I don’t even know where to start. The Beauty of living in this country is that you can have your religious beliefs and you can live by them and I can have my beliefs and live by them. I respect the belief you have and I understand that abortion is not an option for you. That is perfectly fine. However the point you seem to miss is that we don’t all have the same beliefs. I understand that in the case of abortion the problem that many on the pro-life side have is that you cannot get past the fact that based on your beliefs life begins at conception and therefore what people are doing is murder. The problem that the radical part of the pro-choice side has is that it does not recognize where the opposition comes from. This is an emotionally charged issue and not one that the 2 sides can find compromise on because one side cannot be expected to compromise that murder is ok. Therefore the best outcome we can have at this time is that we all recognize that the belief that life begins at conception is not the scientifically held standard. Unless there comes a time when the scientific standard changes about when life begins we cannot as a society allow any persons religious convictions determine the ability of others to make choices for themselves. Now with all that I really do want to know how many children Twigs and KCRob will be adopting and I don’t mean Caucasian infants I mean the minority and multi-racial 12 and 13 year olds in the foster system.

Magpies, sometimes I wonder if people like you even read the comments from other people. I directly made the case that I do not feel a fetus to be a human being to which rights are afforded. The fetus isn’t fully developed, is not yet viable, has no personality, has no self. I see no moral quandary here. I do not believe in souls, and I especially do not believe in a Judeo-Christian God making the judgement calls here. I think just about all pro-choice individuals are going to tell you that they don’t think the right of a fetus ever, EVER, supersede the rights of the woman that hosts the fetus.

“The fetus isn’t fully developed, is not yet viable, has no personality, has no self.”

Is that so? http://www.justthefacts.org/clar.asp
“From the moment of conception, 46 chromosomes with 30,000 genes combine to determine all your physical characteristics:sex, facial features, body type, colour of hair, eyes, and skin. Even more amazingly, intelligence and personality – the way you feel – were already in place within your genetic code. At the moment of conception you were essentially and uniquely you.”

I beg to differ with you.

Abortion is the murder of a human being. Not only a human being, but an individual. An individual with a personality. They are self aware and they feel pain (proven at University College London). The ends do not justify the means. It is murder.

As for any adoptions that I might make, I’m so glad you asked. In fact, I am very fond of the idea of adopting in the future. I do realize that those in foster care range from a variety of ages, ethnic groups, and social backrounds and this does not bother me at all. I agree, it is sad that this does matter to some adopting families. What is in the best interest of the child is what’s important and I do hope that I can provide the ideal home for them.

Now, we’ll drop the cancer analogy. Think of the individual you love the most: Your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, brother, sister, child. Now imagine your life without them. It’s devastating, is it not? Let’s run the scenario: They are an unwanted pregnancy. They are aborted. You would have NEVER met them. You would have NEVER shared your life with them. How would your life be different?

What kind of unknown damage is abortion causing? Who are the people being murdered every day? What would life be like if they existed? We will NEVER know.

Twigs – the site and information you are using is from a Pro-life website so the information is one sided. That being said I find it interesting the way you pick and choose what to acknowledge. I think everyday about how my life would be different if my son was here I know how losing him has colored my world. What kind of unknown damage is being done when you force your beliefs on others. I disagree with you and it’s fine with me that you believe abortion is murder and that life begins at conception. I do not. I say this as a mother who has lost a child. As a woman who has had to terminate a pregnancy because it put her life at risk. As a woman who has held the hand of her friend who terminated by choice due to rape. As a woman who wants to ensure that other women have access to the information needed to make the choices that are best for them. That does not mean abortion it means all of the choices available. Adoption, Abortion, keeping the child. It means putting my own emotion aside to ensure the decisions are made in an informed way and without undo pressure.

” Think of the individual you love the most: Your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, brother, sister, child. Now imagine your life without them. It’s devastating, is it not? Let’s run the scenario: They are an unwanted pregnancy. They are aborted. You would have NEVER met them. You would have NEVER shared your life with them. How would your life be different?”

This is ridiculous. If my significant other never existed, then they wouldn’t be my significant other and I wouldn’t be worse for wear. I’m sure someone else would have taken their place, I don’t believe in the idea of a soul mate. You can’t use posterior knowledge from 20 years in the future to justify a preemptive choice.

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